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To Download the Beta:Insert and Launch Halo 3: ODST’s Campaign DiscSelect “Play the Beta” from the main menu

MatchmakingHighlight and press A to play a selection of matchmade games. Full details cover each playlist and their respective schedules can be found in the Playlist section if this guide.

SettingsPress Start to access the Settings menu to adjust your control scheme, purchase and adjust your armor permutations, and to access a plethora of other options, including your File Share, Audio and Video settings, and to set your Service Tag and color schemes.

ControlsThere are six control configurations available for use in the Halo: Reach multiplayer Beta. With the addition of Armor Abilities, the team has augmented and adjusted the schemes to better suit the use of Armor Abilities.

TheaterThe Beta features full access to the Halo: Reach Theater. Save your recent games, edit them into Film Clips, take screenshots, and share it via your File Share. For tons of more information about the File Share options available in the Beta, check out our Bungie.net Reach Beta article.Follow the onscreen prompts and instructions

Note: The download process may be subject to extended wait times. Server load is expected to be extremely high, especially during the first few hours and days of Beta availability. Please bear with us and stay tuned to Bungie.net for news and information.

To Play the Beta:

Insert and Launch Halo 3: ODST’s Campaign DiscSelect “Play the Beta” from the main menu

--Active RosterThis subtle, yet powerful feature displays the activities your friends are engaged in at a glance and allows you to quickly join their game, invite them to your squad, or get into a queue if they’re in the middle of a match. You’ll never have to press the guide button again. Once you experience the ease in which Active Roster allows you to link up with your friends, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it.

Queue-JoiningIn Reach, you can automatically join together with your friend(s) as soon as they’re out of their game. Just highlight them in Active Roster and select “Queue Join” from the menu. Both parties will be notified that pending the completion of the current game, they’ll be paired together in a squad.

Connection Options & Social SettingsPrioritize what’s most important to you in your online experience! Define your preferred matching criteria and toggle settings that can add an additional layer of logic when it comes time to finding teammates to get paired with.

VotingIn Reach, players will have a greater degree of control over what game variants and maps they play within each playlist. Once players are matched into a group, the game will provide a default option and up to three alternatives. The game variant and map is chosen by the majority of votes.

File Sharing & Content Creation Reach will build upon the content creation tools and features first introduced in Halo 3. In the Beta, players will be able to create Saved Films and Screenshots, upload them to Bungie.net, and add or query content using keyword “tags”– all without ever leaving the game. And where Halo 3 had a limit of 100 custom content items, in Reach you’ll be able to have THOUSANDS of custom content items!

Once you’re in the thick of battle, it’s too late to make preparations. Make sure you get familiar with Loadouts fast. Loadouts are combinations of primary and secondary weapons, Armor Abilities, and grenades that you can choose from to tailor your individual play. At the outset of most gametypes, you will be given the option to choose from one of several Loadouts that contain distinct weapons, grenade types, and Armor Abilities. If you don’t like the build you began with, you can swap it out by pressing X during your respawn window.

Loadouts can and will change based on the playlist and gametype you are playing. Certain gametypes, such as Invasion, will also stagger Loadouts, with new and more powerful builds becoming available as each game progresses. Even if you are doing well with a certain Loadout, you might want to check the offerings from time to time to see if you could be doing even better!

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Armor Abilities

Armor Abilities are multi-use armor augmentations that can alter any engagement on the fly. In most game modes available in the multiplayer Beta, you’ll be loading out with one Armor Ability of your choosing. They are not one time use augmentations in the vein of equipment in Halo 3. Each ability has its own unique effect upon your combat effectiveness, each has penalties for use, and each requires a short cooling off period between subsequent uses.

Sprint – Feel the need, Spartan? Engage this Ability for a burst of speed that's great for quickly covering ground or escaping sticky situations.

Evade - Play with your food! As an Elite, you'll be able to bob, weave, and juke to get into the most effective combat position.

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Take DownsThough assassinations are nothing new to Halo play, they’ve now been upgraded to finish with a little more flourish should you decide you need to humiliate your opponent. When you’re dead sure you have the drop on an unsuspecting enemy, get close and hold down the melee button to initiate a sweet assassination. Wise timing is essential! While it looks awesome to finish your opponent in style, the flourish will also leave you exposed to enemy fire.

Make sure you pick just the right moment to embarrass your enemy, or you might be the sucker who loses the match in a vain attempt at personal glory!

Boneyard

You won’t have to run any reconnaissance to pick out the decommissioned UNSC frigate, Commonwealth. She sits front and center amidst Boneyard’s dusty battleground. The grounded vessel makes for a really interesting play space, but it also segments Boneyard visually into some seriously enormous sections.

The first space you need to be familiar with is the exterior expanse set between the cliff wall and the frigate itself. This ground is where the attacking Elites will be spawning at the outset the match. Scraps from derelict and dismantled machinery provide plenty of cover from the hail of DMR fire the Spartans will be raining down on you from above. You’ll want to stay mobile, but make sure you scrub the sand for treasures; there are a couple of carefully placed Needle Rifles strewn about.

The Commonwealth sits atop the universe’s largest cement trailer blocks. The interior proper is sizable, but the layout is nice and simple. Defending Spartans will generally stand their ground, positioning themselves around the generators in the central bay while the attacking Elites attempt to flank from various entry points.

Once you’ve successfully powered down one of the generators and pushed beyond the frigate, you’ll find yourself on the second major outdoor section of Boneyard. This open area features cranes, catwalks, rooftops, vehicle bays, and all kinds of other geographical features for you to explore. There are also a few small buildings to scrap over and a sizable smelting refinery nestled against the far rock face. The “back” half is where the Spartan’s vehicle bays are positioned once Phase 3 hits, and once you’ve made it that far, all of Boneyard’s sweeping expanse will have become fair game to fight over.

Overlook

In the Beta, Overlook is setup specifically for Generator Defense, a game of assault and defense pitting Spartans against Elites in the middle of Reach’s lush, pastoral countryside. Elites will spawn low near a rushing river and should immediately begin by heading up the grade to assault the three UNSC generators.

Spartans have the high ground, including several rustic civilian structures designed to house livestock and a large, permanent structure that may seem easy to defend on first glance, but offers attackers several routes in and out, making it ripe for an attack from all angles.

It shouldn’t take either side long to become familiar with the layout. Protecting or destroying the generators requires that both parties stay in motion. Make sure you’re keeping track of the action via your Heads Up Display, choosing the best spawns by using the d-pad after you meet your maker, and keeping your eye on the weapon drops to ensure that your three man squad has all the wonderful toys.

Sword Base

Sword Base’s interior atrium is several layers deep. It’s well suited for Jet Packs. But that doesn’t mean it’s not set up to take advantage of all the other delectable tools of destruction Halo: Reach has on offer – turns out, Sword Base is a complex and layered arena ripe for all modes of play.

Bottom floor is 1a or 1b, depending on which side you happen to be hanging out on. A-side features red ambient lighting, B-side rocks the blue. You’ll have to figure out the rest as you go. Like Boarding Action or Prisoner, the overhead probably just leaves you scratching your head in wonder and confusion. Best way to get acclimated is to dive right in.

One of Sword Base’s defining visual features sits in a small pool of water, right smack in the middle of the marble ensconced lower level. This curiously goniochromatic Covenant gravity lift displaces anything that happens to wander into its electric blue energy thrust. Savvy players will learn to utilize this oddity to quickly maneuver to a number of vertical perches. Others will lift off only to flounder about in midair, eventually falling back down to the ground floor, exposing themselves to a hail of enemy fire.

Though the central atrium is nice and open, the interior spaces are somewhat labyrinthine and you’ll find that remaining unseen or invincible for a brief spell is a particularly nasty tactic if you want to keep it close quarters or snag some of the exposed power weapons without exposing your face to too much enemy fire.

Powerhouse is set amidst one of Reach’s more desolate regions. Look up and you’ll catch a glorious glimpse of some majestically mountainous outcroppings. This installation might have once merely bent that meandering river in an effort to serve Reach’s rural settlers with much needed hydroelectric power, but now it’s been rerouted to provide fodder for a full scale war effort.

Most rounds begin with a knockdown, drag out fight between players thirsting for the Rocket Launcher. If you’re looking to join the fray, you’ll find it resting in the spillway below. When you go in after it, be prepared to claw, scratch, and bite your way through some stiff opposition.

Powerhouse features a multitude of routes to facilitate plenty of unpredictable approaches. Stay low and wade through the water, cut through the buildings and drop down from the path above, or sprint your way in from the Rock Garden side of Powerhouse to pounce on unsuspecting fools salivating over the prospect of explosive kills.